Genesis 7:1-12
The Great Flood (Luke 17:26, 27)
1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
The LORD called out Noah and his family from the world under judgment to deliver them in the ark whose perfect design was given to Noah who was faithful to do according to the directions of God’s word to him. Compared to the rest of the world whose inheritance of sin from their forefathers and especially of Cain, this man was called righteous before God. He was then told not only to save himself and family, but also seven of the clean animals later for food and sacrifices (Genesis 8:17, 20, 9:2-3), with seven of the birds as well. All others were taken in pairs of two to keep the species alive and fill the earth as they would multiply after the floodwaters settled. In just a week, God was going to pour rain on the earth for forty days and so the ark filled with life to continue quickly. All other life left on the earth was going to be destroyed to rid the world of the corruption of sin on God’s good creation. As for faithful Noah, he was six hundred years old when this deluge began and he was delivered from the sentence of sin (1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5) that God passed on His creation. Of course, this was not to say that the world was free of sin after the flood, for even though Cain’s physical lineage was stopped his spiritual legacy of disobedience lived on in the original sin in the spiritual DNA of Adam and Eve and was still in the world. The difference was a second chance for mankind to trust and obey God’s commands this time after witnessing the judgment to come of destruction for man’s sin. The eight of the chosen people entered the ark and after a week began to witness the flood of destruction and death on the sin-soaked world they left behind. All the waters of the seas and sky of the heavens poured down and covered the earth, a torrential rain like no other that kept incessantly falling for over a month! This baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21) immersed them in God’s grace and mercy to deliver the righteous but imperfect ones who trusted Him and acted on that faith with unquestioned actions. Do we obey based on God’s word to us like Noah, or do we question God and act contrary as Eve did when deceived (2 Corinthians 11:3) or Cain did (Genesis 4:6-8, 1 John 3:12) out of jealousy and disobedience with anger that God does not accept our sacrifices in place of the kind He asks of us (Romans 12:1, 1 Peter 2:5) from an obedient heart (Matthew 9:13) of repentance and faith? We know that our deliverance is secure in Christ from the judgment of fire to come (2 Peter 3:6-7) in the end when all things, including the earth that has been itself corrupted (Romans 8:21) by our sin, are made new (Revelation 21:1, 5), just as Noah trusted Him through the flood of destruction in the first Judgment on mankind. This then is the good news we proclaim to the world as a warning to turn from sin to Him in faith to realize the certainty of hope in Jesus Christ who is our only deliverer from sin and its consequences. Are you ready and prepared to enter the ark of deliverance?
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